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New study finds there’s no cognitive risk from playing high school football


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This study was published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Neurology. That gives it a lot of credibility.

Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy (CTE) in football has become one of the biggest issues they face after finishing their careers. However, a recent study from JAMA Neurology suggests that former high school football players do not face an enhanced risk.

The findings from the study (which took on 3,904 men with an average age of 64.4 years) read as such:The study used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, with players matched between March 1 and July 1, 2017. Controlled variables included adolescent IQ, family background, and educational level. This included three types of studied subjects: all controls, those who played a noncollision sport, and those who did not play any sport.

So for those who attended high school 60 years ago, playing football didn’t expose itself as a major risk factor for later-life cognitive impairment or depression that comes with CTE. Despite the game being quite different today with bigger, faster, and stronger athletes, it still found that the risk today is similar as it was then.

The study also stated that, “cognitive and depression outcomes later in life were found to be similar for high school football players and their nonplaying counterparts.” That’s got to be even more comforting knowing that it’s as if they never played at all.

For players that have taken their careers to the next level, and the professional level, this isn’t necessarily encouraging. However, there has to be some relief for people who may have questioned what football may have done to their bodies just from playing high school ball.

https://www.sbnation.com/2017/7/11/15952184/cte-study-wisconsin-high-school-football

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This doesn't entirely surprise me. I would have expected some higher rate of CTE of those who played football than that who didn't. But not a significant difference. The biggest risk is with those who played least through college and definitely NFL. They are bigger and hit harder. They have much longer seasons. And they played for a much longer period of time.

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9 hours ago, Footballking16 said:

Crushing blow to Muda’s campaign to end high school football as we know it.

Not really.  There are now competing studies out there, each with probably it's own biases.   Which one to believe is up to the individual.

And of course this study hedges it's bets to a degree:

FTS:

Quote

Our findings may not generalize to current high school football players owing to changes in playing style, training technique, protective equipment, and rules aimed at improving safety. Although high school football today may be safer as a result of these changes, it is possible that the frequency and severity of head impacts have increased owing to the faster pace of the game, the larger body size of the players,51 or an increased perception of safety.52 Exposure to repeated head trauma before 12 years of age may lead to cognitive decline later in life,53 but information on the age of first exposure is unavailable in the data set.

Although we did not find evidence of a large mean association of playing high school football with cognitive impairment and depression later in life, some subgroups of football players may have an elevated risk of dysfunction later in life. Several studies have found that a history of multiple concussions may have long-term cognitive and behavioral consequences8,9,13,25and that the frequency and severity of head impacts vary by team position (eg, quarterback, receiver).54 Concussion history and position information were unavailable. Further research is needed to examine the risks for these subgroups.

 

Edited by Muda69
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After this week of rock climbing, 10 + mile hike, ninja warrior course, high rope course, team building exercises, 14 mile canoe ride, a night sleeping on a sandbar, all while chaperoning 60 middle school age teens. If I don’t have cte from years of sports, then I might now. 😊. Absolutely all worth it!

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